Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Steelers need O-Line help, and a bunch of mock drafts have a guy like Cal C Alex Mack still available at pick 32. Apparently, winning the Super Bowl totally screws with your draft position.

Look, I don't put a whole bunch of stock into mock drafts 2 months before the ACTUAL draft, but Mack's name keeps popping up as a potential Black and Gold prospect. Its no secret that the team will look for depth on both the O and D Lines, and this was pretty much confrimed when Tomlin used his first two picks on highest-talent-available skill guys like Mendenhall and Sweed last year. We made do with our terrible O-Line this past year enough to win the damn Super Bowl, but I'd have to believe that circumstance was the exception, and not the rule.

So in order for the team to continue to be successful and vie for Lombardi Trophies, its clear that we need some linemen. The D-Line needs depth, but with staples like Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel and Casey Hampton along with venerable backup vets like Chris Hoke, we can afford to put off high draft picks on this side of the line til maybe next year.

Which is why a guy like Mack could make an immediate impact.

It seems like the team is going to keep Kemoeatu as the LG, which is a move I fully support so long as we rid ourselves of Willie Colon. Drafting Mack could expedite this process. By drafting Mack, you have one of two scenarios. The Steelers could hold onto Hartwig for another year, and let Mack play RG in place of Colon. This would let Mack get valuable playing time, all while he readies himself to be the C of the future. Or, should the Steelers like Mack over Hartwig, you have your C of the future already in place. I like option number 1 better, although Mack would be game-ready from the get-go.

PS...totally forgot that Jessica Alba was on The Secret World of Alex Mack. What's Alex been up to?

14 comments:

Haha, solid. The main chick on that show was the hottest back in the day.

I'd love it if the Steelers got Mack. Two years ago when we took Timmons, Domski and I were talking about Ryan Kalil from USC and look how that's worked out for the Panthers. I fully advocate a Center in the 1st round (or 2nd even if we can get a steal).

But like you said, mock drafts this far out are way too speculative. We'll probably see a lot of the same names for the next couple of months. And I can't really remember the last time the Steelers actually drafted someone they were projected to draft (it was prob like three years ago, but still...yeah, my memory sucks). Let's hope this year is the exception!

Cotter - Shit. Either way, I completely advocate ridding ourselves of Colon, and using Mack as an interior lineman on the right side. If we keep Hartwig a year, then let Mack learn RG while we rotate in guys like Stapleton. The RT position, I'm still concerned about. Is Simmons still under contract? Essex and Stapleton seem to be too small to rotate out to RT.

Yeah, as far as I know Simmons is still locked down. But yeah, the only other potential "tackles" we have (besides Starks) are Trai Essex and some dudes from the practice squad (Tony Hills, Jason Capizzi and probably one or two others).

RT is definitely a concern. Colon has not proved to me he's worth anything more than a bag of balls.

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